A rose by any other name

A number of years ago, I thought I'd finally hit on the right title for Mrs. Koch.

It was time to move on from "Queen of Clean."

She's not the "director" of a specific department, so that wouldn't work.

And "Owner's Mom" just doesn't have the right panache.

Suddenly it hit me: Matriarch.

That's it!

The quintessential queenly moniker.

Well deserved.

Perfect.

She hates it.

Today, the Lincolnland Economic Development Corporation held its annual membership meeting. Mrs. Koch was one of the featured speakers, so I signed up to attend.

As the LEDC president introduced Mrs. Koch, I stage-whispered to tourism friends at my table, "Say a prayer he doesn't call her 'matriarch.' She really, really hates that."

Right on cue: "…let's have a warm welcome for the matriarch of Holiday World — Pat Koch!"

My table lapsed into giggles. And Mrs. Koch's first words to the group of about 120: Oh, I wish they'd come up with something else to call me.

Um, Mrs. Koch? Be careful what you wish for: My husband, Gary, called a bit ago to tell me Jim from WBDC radio had a lively report on his 4:00 pm newscast. Jim chose not to call Mrs. Koch our matriarch (one publication a while back actually called her the park's patriarch). Instead: "…and one of the featured speakers at today's luncheon was the Mother Goose of Holiday World, Pat Koch."